The launch of Discovery, in photos

With just six shuttle flights left, and with Discovery’s flight being possibly the last night launch, I thought readers might appreciate a look back at some photos from the mission’s beginning.

In the first photo, lightning over NASA Kennedy Space Center competes with the xenon lights on the pad illuminating Discovery late Monday. The launch was scrubbed due to the weather conditions that violated the conditions for liftoff:

Justin Deniere/EPA

More lightning over Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Monday night.

NASA/Ben Cooper

The third time proved a charm as Discovery launched Friday night. Photographed from the Banana River Viewing Site, Discovery and its seven-member STS-128 crew blasted off at 11:59 p.m.:

Now in the midst of flight day four (see timeline), all is going well with the mission to resupply the space station. There are some relatively minor issues with the vehicle and propellant, but nothing that NASA cannot work around.